Model railroad layouts plans

Rob has recreated his vacation with his HO scale German trains and layout:

“I’ve been a fan of your blog for several years, and have learn so much from the contributors. I look forward to opening my email each day to see the wonders you send forth.

I’ve been working on my Murren and St. Goar Scenic Railway since I returned from a trip to German and Switzerland.

I wanted to recreate views and moments from that trip in HO scale German trains.

I’d not done any railroading since I was a teen back in the 1960s, so it’s been a real experience relearning everything.

t’s encouraging to read posts of others who have questions and made mistakes we can all learn from.

My submission shows a small addition to my city (based on Freiburg, Germany) three streets off the Main Avenue.

There was a block of empty space left over from other building installations. I’d debated what to do with it for some time, and finally decided to just tackle the space with basically what I had on hand.

Our recent stay in place orders here in Michigan have provided many extra hours of time to ponder and work on train projects.

I tend to work on my layout in an organic fashion, and have found that I greatly admire those modelers who can build a layout with all those yards, mainlines and switches.

I’ve also learned that I’m not very good at that part of the hobby.

What, it turns out, I really like is doing building kits and creating landscapes for the train to run through.

Your blog has reinforced that there is no “right” way to do model railroading, and that ideas can come from any source.

Attached are several pictures showing the progress of the city block addition from start to finish.

View from the main station looking back toward to area where the new block addition was added. All the city buildings are lighted for night effect.

The block as it looked before I started. The backs of the buildings on the facing block provide the background. I added a narrow road opposite, next to the tracks as a first step.

I first added some grass for a small park which is to set behind the building on the block corner. Then I added stone paver sections to create a courtyard as seen in many German cities behind buildings. I found, and assembled a building kit that allowed a drive through from the side street into the courtyard to anchor the other end of the block.

I built some simple planters, added benches and found a sculpture piece for the park. My youngest daughter teaches first grade so she has many craft and classroom items that can be adapted to the layout. In this case the sculpture is a throwaway piece from a lettering kit.

Next I added some people, a tree, a hedge and a fence next to the tracks. These were all left over parts from other scenes on the layout.

Then I added the two buildings, one at each end to enclose the block. One building I already had built, but did not use for a different scene, the other was purchased to allow the drive through into the court yard.

View of the completed block.

Wwith the recent article on how to finish the edge of the layout causing some discussion, I decided to try adding buildings across the street on the other side of the tracks. I purchased a set of kits for those half facade buildings that one puts up against walls. Only I don’t have any walls so I just placed them on the table edge and put a backing board behind them so they won’t fall off.

I colored this row of buildings based on those I saw in Innsbruck on my trip to Switzerland this past summer. The middle building on the block is make up from leftover parts from the other kits in the set, and allowed me to fill the space completely.

I hope your readers fine them interesting and even useful.

Rob, Murren and St. Goar Scenic Railway, USA”

Now on to Cassio.

We know he’s a man of few words – but that’s just the language barrier.

His pics and video does all the talking:

A big thanks to Cassio and Rob.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget if you want to get going on your very own layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Brian’s been in touch with an excellent post on model railroad scenery ideas.

Have a look at what he’s done;

“Hi Al,

I have been making silicone moulds and resin castings for much needed detail around my layout.

If you are short on model railroad scenery ideas it’s a great way to fill a corner of your layout.

Herewith photos and descriptions of how and what I used for this process. I have been asked before on your site on how I make the castings and what I use.

I want to stress here that I make the moulds and castings for my own use only. I do not sell any of them as that would be illegal and a copyright infringement.

Here goes. (Some of the photos are not the best quality as they were taken before I had a decent camera).

This photo is of one of the scrap yards I have on my layout showing a lot of cast vintage vehicles glued together.

I am planning a third scrapyard for my layout. They generate a lot of shunting, deliveries and collections from them. Hence the gondola car in front.

Here are the products that I use, silicone and it’s catalyst. Mixing instructions are on the labels. It is normally by weight and ratio – 100:10. This is the silicone product.

Below is the resin product. Mixing ratio is 1:1. When purchasing this resin product, ask about its expiration date as they do have a shelf life.

Next, I select the parts that I want to male moulds of and select a suitable tub to use. I stick the parts to the bottom of it using “blue-tac”.

From here, I fill a jug with water, pour it into the mould above to the depth that I think would be sufficient, then measure the amount of water, usually in millilitres and that will tell me how much silicone I need for the mould. (No wastage of the silicone)

Below is the tub filled with the correct amount of silicone covering the parts underneath.

After approximately 5-6 hours of curing, depending on the weather, the silicone can be removed from the tub and the parts are easily removed.

Here are the moulds in use with resin poured in them and after approximately 15 minutes, the parts can be removed and the moulds are ready for making more.

The resin turns white after curing.

Below is an HO scale V8 engine block on a pallet that I also made a mould of and used lots of the castings in and around the buildings on my layout.

Below is the V8 block out of the mould. (Excuse the terrible photo)

Below shows a size comparison with an HO scale figure.

A generator set casting, right is the original and left, the casting before painting.

Top is the original and the finished generator casting set below it.

Below is the start of the painting process. Will later be weathered and rusted up.

Out of the mould and needs trimming.

Almost finished.

The above vehicle was moulded in this old photo slide box.

The advantage of using this silicone is that no mould release agent is needed either in removing the mould from its box or the part from the mould. The parts do not need washing after removal as there is no residue on them.

This casting of a small compressor is only 12mm long.

Below is the mould for a building that will be placed on the side of a bigger building.

Below is the raw casting out of its mould.

Here it is painted, weathered and placed next to a workshop.

A few more different castings to show what can be done.

A footnote – do not worry about using painted products for moulding as the silicone does not damage or remove the paint. (The original generator set used above is a perfect example).

Again, I must stress that these moulds and castings are expressly for my use only and are not sold or given away.

I hope that this article has explained how I arrive at all the finer details around my layout.

Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA.”

A huge thanks to Hall of Famer, Brian. Clever stuff.

Hope you enjoyed that as much as me, I never would have guessed in a million years that’s how Brian makes his scenery.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if today is the day you start on your own layout.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

HO scale shelf layout ideas – look what Henry has done to hide a staging yard:

“Hello Alastair

A great part of our hobby is creating illusions. I am creating the illusion of unit coal trains running between a coal mine and a coal fired power station.

I do not have the space to model either industry to scale, so a photo backdrop helps to create the illusion.

But where do the coal trains go? My answer, a hidden staging yard.

How do you hide a staging yard on the upper deck of your layout?

You build a mountain.

Here are some pictures of how the mountain progressed.

Once fully installed, you cannot see the staging tracks, so I installed 2 mirrors above the staging yards, so that you can see the clearnce markers (white ties).

Occupation indication is via current sensors in each track, that changes a LED from green to red when track is occupied.

Henry”

Here is a youtube video showing the whole mountain with a few trains running past.

A huge thanks to Henry – nicely done! Always good to see HO scale shelf layout ideas. It reminded me of Mike’s: 2×8 HO scale layout

I do love seeing how you all solve your glitches and problems.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.